


we are stranger than earth

by jasperartemis



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Credence is sAD, M/M, Obscurial Credence Barebone, Patronus, Temporary Character Death, can be read as platonic or romantic idk, takes place entirely within the newtcase, this fic gets very sad and emotional but has a happy ending!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-16 00:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9265826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasperartemis/pseuds/jasperartemis
Summary: comparing and contrasting your worst and best memories."credence dreams of flying that night.in the dream he looks at himselfand it’s not him it’s ink-black smokehe is the obscurial and flying but still himself."





	1. i had a feeling you broke

**Author's Note:**

> work title and chapter titles from the song "stranger than earth" by purity ring.  
> i tried to use the correct forms of "obscurial" and "obscurus"  
> this is my first ever published fic! yes this has been beta'd. grammar/punctuation style is intentional.

there’s snow here  
and he stands in the wind  
whipping up flakes onto his clothes and face.  
his edges aren’t quite there and his eyes are a milky sickly white.  
black bleeds and blends with the white all around.  
credence is gone completely  
and all that’s left is this pulsing pounding painful black smoke.  
as quickly as it came it leaves.  
credence is a bone white boy and not ink-black smoke.  
he shudders and falls to his knees  
and sticks his hands in the snow to cool them  
because he’s hotter than he’s ever felt in his life  
as though he’s plunged into the heart of the sun.  
+  
newt finds credence  
lying face-down in the snow  
with hands so pale they’re barely visible against the white.  
+  
credence wakes up  
and he is cold again  
but this is a natural state and acceptable.  
at least he’s not burning like he was before.  
newt is working nearby.  
credence is in a bed in the little house-place  
and newt is at the table writing in his journal.  
newt sees he’s awake and is at his side in seconds;  
a stream of questions fall from his lips  
asking how he feels  
and if he needs food or water or blankets and did he go into obscurus?  
credence answers: cold no no yes yes.  
newt’s like a little cloud-obscurial himself  
flying around credence  
and checking his cold-injured face and hands  
and giving him potions and burying him in blankets  
and even the little bowtruckle is climbing onto credence’s shoulder.  
his name’s pickett says newt. pickett seems to smile.  
credence feels overwhelmed with the attention  
and curls up a bit and he can’t quite refuse all the things newt’s pressing on him.  
credence’s pinky on his right hand looks like it’s dipped in ink  
which is the same shade as his obscurus form.  
he covers it with his other hand  
and he cannot feel the shape of the finger  
as though it’s turned to smoke.


	2. there were untimely dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: mention of death  
> i've already written the whole thing so i'll be publishing one chapter a day.

credence dreams of flying that night.  
in the dream he looks at himself  
and it’s not him it’s ink-black smoke  
he is the obscurial and flying but still himself.  
when he wakes up he considers telling newt  
but he doesn’t want to remind himself that the dream could never happen.  
he’s going to die soon anyway  
because even though he stretched out his lifespan  
you can only live with an obscurus so long.  
a little voice tells him  
that maybe he is a different kind of obscurial  
and maybe he could do this.  
credence ignores it.  
newt is sitting next to him now  
how did credence not notice?  
he’s usually so observant of everything.  
especially newt.  
_what are you thinking about_ newt asks  
staring off into the distance.  
credence glances at him then looks down.  
_flying_ says credence  
before he realizes what he’s saying.  
he curses himself for saying it out loud  
and now he feels ridiculous  
(for no reason really).  
_what kind of flying?_  
on a broomstick on a dragon or just like you’ve been stung by a billywig?  
credence hides his surprise  
that witches really do ride on broomsticks and dragons.  
he doesn’t know what a billywig is.  
_obscurial flying_ credence responds  
figuring he’s already started talking  
he might as well finish.  
newt turns to credence with a curious kind of look on his face.  
_do you remember what it’s like to be in obscurus form and fly?_  
credence doesn’t know what to do with this.  
he doesn’t remember really it’s swimming deep in his subconscious  
like he’s not sure if it’s a dream or a memory.


	3. and the smoke filled you up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: mention of credence's bad memories, not graphic, just his reaction to them  
> tw: mention of blood  
> thank you so much for the kudos/comments!! it means so much!

the wind felt too real to be magically conjured  
it froze both of them as they stepped into the icy blast.  
newt tells credence to try and enter obscurus form  
and credence sorts through all his memories of what he endured with the second salem-ers  
until he finds the very worst one.  
he puts this into his head and lets his edges blur  
and fade out to nothingness  
and lets black consume him until there is nothing left  
except the screaming of his memory-self  
and maybe he is screaming as he transforms too.  
there is more than screaming now.  
his name over and over and over at a cry hushed to a whisper.  
_credence credence credence credence!_  
but then it’s gone  
and credence is just ink-black smoke and nothing.  
+  
later credence is human again  
and standing next to a shivering newt  
and he’s so very hot again like he’s just erupted from a volcano  
and he can’t feel the cold that newt seems to be feeling so plainly.  
_i heard your voice says credence_  
for that’s what the whisper was of course it was newt.  
_that’s progress_ says newt  
_that’s quite enough for today though_  
and credence realizes that newt’s cheek is bleeding and his sleeve is torn  
and his clothes have been ripped to the point that his chest is exposed to the winds.  
it was credence’s fault.  
of course it was.


	4. there is a color that shines through your skin

he doesn’t quite know what to make of newt   
with his joyful demeanor and passion for his creatures.   
he seems the farthest possible thing from the people and place that credence came from   
and therefore is uncharted uncategorized and unknown.   
newt explains that he left school   
and that all he wants to do is care for his creatures.   
he wears brighter clothing than credence has ever seen and it’s beautiful   
and newt loans credence his yellow and black scarf to wear   
and credence feels simultaneously like he can’t accept it and like he can never let it go.  
credence decides that the best description of newt   
is bright in every sense of the word.   
for it seems like newt practically glows and how could anyone not see it?


	5. there was a danger that seeped from my skull

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you enjoy the lil bit of fluff last chapter? get ready to c r y because this is the opposite  
> tw: _major character death!!!_ i did not put an archive warning on this bc it's only temporary, i put this in the fic tags, but please take this as a second warning!

newt tries many times to reach credence while within the throes of obscurus  
but each time fails and fails and fails again.  
credence withdraws deeper into his metaphorical fog  
telling himself it’s to protect newt  
it’s all to protect newt  
he will never hurt anyone ever again.  
one night credence waits until newt’s breathing was the even deep breaths of sleep  
and goes to the cold place that he practices in.  
he focuses on his memories until he falls in a crashing wave of darkness into obscurus-smoke  
and then he is mindless and filled only with dark fire that can never be dampened.  
far away in the little cottage pickett wakes the sleeping newt  
who knows exactly what’s wrong the second his eyes open.  
_credence credence credence! credence! come back!_  
the smoke stills  
and within the ink-black credence is held dangling limply like a puppet abandoned  
but his eyes are open and his eyes are fixed on newt.  
_credence! i’m right here!_  
but credence rushes at newt  
crying out in a fury that was unbounded  
and newt is knocked to the ground by the venomous mass of death that is credence now.  
the second newt cries out in pain  
credence comes to himself  
and he never shrunk faster  
and suddenly he is crouching in the cold  
and newt is lifeless in the white snow  
and there is no brightness in him anymore  
like credence sapped all the brightness away.  
credence did it.  
finally.  
newt is gone and it’s all his fault  
if only he controlled himself  
if only he could be good.  
is it all he’s destined to be?  
a cloud of death until he poisons himself from the inside out?


	6. i wasn't thinking about you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: newt's still dead so death mention

it’s been hours since credence last moved  
he barely breathes  
his heart is slowed  
and he’s crouching over newt’s broken body  
and all he can do is stay there.  
he’s silently begging newt to sit up  
to breathe to smile at him  
and he can’t quite accept that this happened and that he caused it.  
pickett stirs in newt’s pocket  
and the little movement sets credence off.  
he begins to scream louder and louder  
until creatures from around the suitcase are cowering and covering their ears and running away from the sound  
and credence doesn’t care all he wants to do is turn into smoke and destroy himself.  
finally he’s gone  
and he tears up the landscape  
and snow flies hundreds of feet into the air  
and credence grows and grows and chews up the land and annihilates anything in the snowy wasteland that now only serves as a grave for newt.  
newt.  
credence realizes that he’s not gone.  
he’s there in the smoke and hurting a thousand times worse than any pain he endured back in new york  
and he still is himself.  
he pulls himself back into a smaller cloud  
and darts to newt’s side and pickett is there.  
pickett is seemingly crying sap-tears onto newt’s coat and suddenly credence realizes what to do.  
credence turns back into himself  
and concentrates on something he’s never done before that he’s not sure will work  
but it’s the only thing he can do now  
and he focuses on the happiest memory he can imagine that is himself when newt accepted him into the suitcase  
and a tornado of newt-memories are in his head  
and it happens.  
credence throws his head back  
and his arms out  
and his chest thrust outward  
and a massive white rush of glowing mist bursts from him.  
the mist spreads and spreads  
until a thick white fog surrounds him and pickett and newt  
and it gets into his eyes his mouth his nose his lungs and into his very being.  
+  
credence wakes up in the snow  
and he turns his head to see newt softly breathing  
the brightness returned to his skin.  
he throws himself on newt and cries  
and newt opens his eyes and wraps his arms around credence.  
they lie in the cold snow  
but both are human and alive and just so relieved to be that way.


	7. but it wasn't your fault

credence can barely believe that newt doesn’t blame him  
and newt can barely believe what credence did to save him.  
it’s been a week since newt died and came alive  
and all he does is ask about what happened.  
_what did you do_ says newt  
and credence answers honestly that he thought of his happiest memories.  
_like a patronus_ says newt  
and credence doesn’t really know what that means.  
_but i’ve never seen a patronus that did this._  
_what do you do to enter obscurus_ asks newt  
and credence says _i think of my worst memories_  
and newt ponders this for so long that credence half wants to shake him out of his thoughts.  
_what form did your patronus take_ newt finally speaks  
and credence just tells him it was mist like a reverse of the obscurus.  
newt stands up abruptly and takes credence’s hand  
and pulls him out of the little cottage.  
_you’re the most amazing wizard i’ve ever met and you need to remember that_ newt says very seriously  
_i have an idea of how you can control your obscurus._  
+  
the plan is simple: credence must concentrate on happy memories while entering obscurus form.  
credence doubts that he can become negative energy while focusing on positive energy  
but he trusts newt and enters the cold once more.


	8. like the moon on the wind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as promised here is the happy ending!  
> thank you so much for the kudos/comments, it's even more than i hoped for for my first published fic!!

he’s flying  
and he feels feverish but it’s happening  
it’s really happening  
he’s soaring around the frozen landscape black smoke on white snow.  
he swirls slipping around newt who sports a face-splitting smile.  
credence can’t smile in this form but if he could he would.  
he can see everything and feel everything  
and it feels a thousand times more intense than anything else he’s ever experienced  
as if he’d never properly seen before.  
he feels like his power is part of him.  
instead of having a barely-restrained storm of dark energy just below his consciousness  
he is the energy  
he is the power  
and it is all just another part of himself to wield  
it is just as good or bad as he is  
and he’s pretty sure he’s becoming good.  
is this what being magic is like?  
and then credence (the ink-black smoke) is back to credence (the bone-white boy)  
and newt is running to him and embracing him  
and credence feels warm but not in the feverish way he associated heat with  
but in the joyful way.  
his face feels strange and he hears laughter and it’s from him he’s smiling and laughing like this is the best day of his life.  
and maybe it is. he is finally  
himself.


End file.
